3 in 5 Filipino students still unvaccinated, as in-person classes resume after 2-year school shutdown
Roughly three out of five of the Philippines’ 27 million students, some 5 million of whom are set to return to in-person classes on Monday (Aug 22), have yet to receive a single shot of vaccines against the Covid-19 virus, the Education Ministry has reported.
Education Ministry spokesman Michael Poa said on Friday (Aug 19) that only 5.3 million students have been fully vaccinated. Another 5.7 million have received just one shot, he said.
“We would have wanted the numbers to be higher… But the truth of the matter is, the vaccination programme of the national government is not mandatory,” said Poa.
Some 5.6 million primary, secondary and college students are set to return to in-person classes for the first time on Monday, more than two years since the government shut down schools as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The country’s students have had to endure one of the world’s longest pandemic-induced closures due to poor vaccination rates and the perennial classroom shortage problem.
The Education Ministry did a test run of blended learning, a mix of face-to-face and online classes in 120 basic education schools, in November 2021.
This year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered all schools to fully transition to in-person classes by November, except in certain areas.
Poa said schools “will not discriminate” against students or teachers who have yet to be vaccinated.
“We will just have to strictly observe minimum health and safety standards to protect not only our learners, but also our teaching and non-teaching staff,” he said.
Nearly all of the country’s 1 million teachers and other school employees, meanwhile, have already been fully vaccinated. There are still about 79,000 who have yet to get at least one shot.
Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said in a congressional hearing that at least 17,000 teachers have refused to get vaccinated at all.
“We recognize that getting vaccinated should not be required. Those who are vaccinated and unvaccinated would really interact with each other… What’s important is that inside the classrooms, the wearing of face masks and the (implementation of) minimum public health standards will be required,” he said.
The vaccine take-up is lowest among students 5 to 11 years old; at just 10 percent, he said.
On the other hand, 80 percent of around 11.4 million Filipinos aged 12 to 17 are already fully vaccinated.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who heads the Senate education committee, said: “I think that’s a good number, and we’re not seeing any problem with that. The problem is with the 5 to 11 (age group). That’s where the challenge comes in.”
The years-long school closure has come with a hefty price.
A World Bank study released in July showed nine out of 10 Filipino children are still struggling to read simple texts at age 10, making the Philippines one of the countries in the East Asia and the Pacific region with the highest rates of “learning poverty”.